_Of_ TWINS.
The Case of _Twins_ may, in many Country Places, be esteemed beyond
the Skill of Women _practicing_ Midwifry; but as they are not alike
ignorant, and this Delivery, with a right Management, is attended
with no great Difficulty, I shall describe it as plainly as I can.
If a Child comes naturally by the Force of the _Mother_’s Pains,
and the _After-birth_ does not easily follow, the Midwife, by
passing her Hand to separate its Adhesion as directed in the sixth
Chapter, will readily find whether _another_ Child still remains
to be born, by the Appearance of other _Membranes_, including
_Waters_, &c. And as where more than one is to be born, they are
generally proportionably smaller, and tho’ the first Child comes
naturally, the second may not, she need not wait for the _Birth_
of the other, by the meer Force of Nature, for this would greatly
hazard the Life of the Child, and sometimes of the Mother, by
a Flooding; but ought to break the _Membranes_, and search for
the _Feet_, carefully preventing their being intangled with the
_Navel-string_; and having got both in her Hand, draw them into
the _Passage_; if the Child’s _Toes_ point to the _Mother’s Back_,
there will be no Danger of the _Chin_ or _Nose_ being hung on the
_Bones_ before, and she may draw the _Feet_ forth with the rest of
the _Body_, without delaying to bring down the _Arms_, encouraging
the Mother to assist in the mean Time, by _bearing down with or
without Pains_.
In Case the _Child’s Toes_ should point to the _Mother’s Belly_,
the Midwife, in drawing the Child forth from the _Hips forward_,
must gradually _turn_ the _Belly_ of the Child towards the
_Mother’s Back_, by the Assistance of the other Hand in the
proceeding.
If the Woman be straiter, or the Child larger, than ordinary,
when she has brought the Infant into the _Passage_ somewhat short
of the _Arm-pits_, she must, by introducing her Fingers, first
over one _Shoulder_, cautiously bring down one _Arm_, and then in
like Manner the _other_, and drawing the Child forward, she must
make Use of both Hands to extricate the _Head_; the _Fingers_ of
one Hand between the _Mother’s Back_ and _Child’s Jaws_, bearing
and drawing them from the _Back-bone_, and with the Fingers of
the other Hand over the _Shoulders_, and the _flat_ against the
_Child’s Back_, draw it forth, the Mother as aforesaid assisting
all the while.
Writers advise putting two Fingers into the _Child’s Mouth_; but
as great Injury has often been done that Way, it is much safer to
bring the Child by _bearing_ with the Fingers against its _Jaws_.
If an _Arm_ should be broke in _bringing down_, let it be spliced
with thin Paste-board, and bound at its full Extent to preserve its
right Shape.
In fetching an Infant by _turning_, ’tis necessary to draw its
_Feet_ into the _Passage_, with the _Toes situate_ towards the
_Infant’s Belly_, for it may be extreamly difficult, if not
impossible, to draw it backwards, contrary to the natural _Bent_
of its _Thighs_ and _Back_; and a _Limb_ may sometimes as easily
be pull’d off, as the Child brought to the _Birth_ this Way; the
Midwife must therefore make Use of the _right_, or _left_ Hand
in doing it, which happens to be most convenient, to the natural
_bending_ of the Infant’s Body.
I THINK it cannot be safe for a Woman to _turn_ a Child upon ether
Occasions requiring it; their Strength, as well as Skill being
frequently inferior to the Task; besides, there may be great Danger
of injuring the Vitals of the Mother in other Cases, especially
after the Operation is unseasonably delay’d.
As each Child has a Navel-string, as well as After-birth belonging
to it (tho’ both _Placenta_’s are sometimes so joined as easily
to be distinguished) the Care respecting the _Navel-string_,
already related in the Sixth Chapter, must of Course be taken for
the First-born, and its _Secundines_ left, ’till after the Birth
of the Second, when both, if necessary, must be separated and
brought away, as there advis’d, with Regard to one alone, and the
_Navel-string_ of the last Infant tied after the same Manner as in
the Birth of one Infant.